Byer served as a poet-in-residence at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, North Carolina; University of North Carolina in Greensboro, and also in Lenoir–Rhyne University (formerly Lenoir–Rhyne College). Her work has appeared in distinguished poetry and scholarly journals, including Poetry, Georgia Review, Southern Review, and Hudson Review.

In addition to Byer’s publications, she has also received several awards, along with fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the North Carolina Arts Council. Her second volume Wildwood Flower (1992), received the Laymont (now Laughlin) Prize for the best second book by an American poet. In 2005 Governor Mike Easley named Byer Poet Laureate of North Carolina and she held this position as the first female Poet Laureate of North Carolina from 2005-2009.

Byer currently lives in Cullowhee, North Carolina with her husband, Jim Byer, former professor of nineteenth century literature at Western Carolina University. They have one daughter, Corinna Lynette.